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Despite an ailing economy and spikes in certain offenses, crime appears to be on a steady decline in town, according to newly released data from the police department.

The data show a 4 percent drop in offenses classified using the FBI's standard categories -- including arson, burglary, assault, auto theft, homicide, robbery and sexual assaults -- for the 2008-09 fiscal year, compared with a year earlier.

In the fiscal year ending June 30, police received 662 reports of FBI-classified crime, down from 692 the previous year.

The data specifically show a significant decline in burglaries, down from 86 to 66, which includes home and car break-ins. Reports also show that larcenies declined from 501 to 495, aggravated assault declined from nine to six, robberies declined from six to five and sex offenses declined from 10 to seven.

"I am happy with the numbers," he said. "I certainly feel we have a great police department, but we can't take all the credit for crime going down. Policing is only part of the statistical rise or fall in crime."

Violent crime has remained low in town, with only two cases being classified as homicide in the latest period. One case involved a Pemberick grandfather charged with killing his ex-daughter-in-law in Sept. 2008. Another involved a Riverside man who struck and killed a 20-year-old man in an Oct. 2008 drunken driving accident.

While most major crimes declined this year, the data did show a 31 percent increase in auto theft incidents, from 29 to 38.

Fiscella attributed the increase to a band of professional car thieves who have targeted the town and other areas in Fairfield County.

Ridberg said he felt the rise in car thefts and drop in burglaries indicates some markets are more active than others for criminals right now.

"There has always been a market in Greenwich (for auto thefts) because of all the commuter lots and the nice cars," said Ridberg. "Frankly, if we didn't aggressively patrol and take a lot of surveillance action, there would be a lot more."

Detective Tim Powell, who heads up the Burglary Clearance Squad, said burglaries may have dropped as residents became more vigilant.

"We seemed to have a flurry of them last year," said Powell. "There may be an increased awareness and a little less complacency."

Police also arrested a man accused of breaking into numerous cars and stealing wallets and GPS devices earlier this year, which may have helped to curb the numbers, police said.

In the breakdown of arrests, the data also show a 15 percent rise in domestic violence arrests. There were 133 arrests in the latest period, compared with 112 in the previous period. Ridberg said the numbers may indicate that more people are coming forward and reporting domestic violence since the implementation of a new domestic violence unit. The unit places a team of officers to provide better assistance and follow-up to victims. Domestic violence is the second most investigated crime at the police department. Larceny is the most investigated crime, police said.

The FBI's classifications do not account for domestic violence incidents, unless they escalate to the point of a simple or aggravated assault. Physical violence isn't needed for a domestic violence arrest, police said.

Looking at drug crimes, police made 149 narcotics arrests compared with 170 the previous year. Ridberg said he is hoping to increase the numbers to more aggressively combat illegal prescription drug use.

"I don't think (the decrease) is because drug use is going down," said Ridberg. "So much of it is inside the house and we can't get inside the house as easily as we can elicit drug dealers on the street."

Weapons arrests increased from 19 to 26 and DUI arrests jumped from 143 to 153, according to the reports.

One of the most dramatic increases noted was for motor vehicle traffic citations. Police issued 36 percent more tickets, with 8,751 tickets issued in the 2008-09 fiscal year and 6,430 tickets in 2007-08.

In total, police responded to 45,960 calls this year compared with 44,149 in 2007-08.

The FBI is set to release its nationwide crime report for 2008 later this month that will detail the trends for towns and cities around the country. Preliminary reports have been released, but numbers on Greenwich were not included.

Ridberg said he does not look to compare Greenwich to other towns in terms of crime statistics, but felt the data show that violent crimes are rare and most citizens have reason to feel safe in town. "In a survey that we do, people are more concerned with traffic and parking than getting mugged," said Ridberg.